Israel honored at major book fair

Israel was honored Monday at one of the largest literary festivals in the Spanish-speaking world.

Organizers of the International Book Fair of Buenos Aires awarded Israel’s booth an honorable mention, citing its “great creativity” as the reason they chose it from stands representing more than 40 nations. Just two other countries received similar recognition — Brazil for having the best booth, and South Korea, which also received an honorable mention. Both Israel and Brazil’s stands were run by the countries’ local embassies.

The fair, which bills itself as the “busiest” in the Spanish-speaking world, attracts more than a million visitors annually, as well as 10,000 members of the publishing industry.

Israeli author David Grossman attended this year’s festival, joining past visitors including Mario Vargas Llosa, Ray Bradbury and Tom Wolfe. Grossman’s activities included participating in a public interview as part of the fair’s Israel Day, which took place May 3.

The fair gave its prize for the best Argentinean book to “Balada” (“Ballad”), by Marcelo Cohen, a Buenos Aires native born to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.